When I took a&up the anatomy was really just about memorization. With bones when we had our bone eval I went through and wrote down all of the parts of each bones (fossa, foramen) whatever they were and I wrote them in a separate list for each bone. Then I made a mnemonic for each list. A sentence where each word started with the same letter of the part of the bone from my list in order. When you go to name all of he parts of the bone you start at the same place every time. You actually only remember about 3 landmarks on each bone. But you take your list and if you start in the same place and go around in the same order every time. Then you're just repeating the list. I tired to word that well I'm not sure if that made as much sense as it would have liked it to. Anyways anatomy is just memorization you doubt really have to put much thought into it so don't stress about that part.
Specializes in mental health / psychiatic nursing.
I did well in both A&P 1 and 2, but I took each class as a single course for the quarter and made studying my job. Between class time, homework, and independent studying I easily put in 20-30 hours a week just on A&P. I used the resources my instructor provided, bought an additional study guide from the publisher of our text book, and bought and used the anatomy and physiology coloring books. I used Khan Academy, Quizlet, and Wikipedia as well in my quest to understand.
For learning bones and muscles and the like for lab, I would work on first identifying everything on the study list our instructor gave us, then would break down into a few items to focus on that I could somehow link together. Then I'd chunk another portion of items that made sense together. I found sketching, even in my pitiful stick-figure art, helped me learn lab anatomy and the relationships between things. Several classmates and I would also quiz each other.
honestly, to get the most out of it use open lab for muscles and vasculature, it will pay off when youre a nurse trying to find a vein for a hard stick.
Hey! What helped me is I watched lots of youtube videos for acronyms and things like that to help remember which bones are where. It also helped that my teacher had us do a lot of hands on things. It really is just a lot of memorization, and you will spend ample amounts of time reading pages over and over again along with studying all the diagrams.
I ended up with a 4.0 in both A&P. It was definitely A LOT of work. What really helped me with A&P was definitely a 3-time exposure with everything - Pre-reading the lectures if they are online and the textbook, writing notes and listening in lecture and then reading the material again until I fully understand it. I also did watched a lot of YouTube videos on parts I had a hard time understanding with as well. If you are working or have any outside commitments, I would also highly recommend cutting down hours on these activities if you can so that way you can really focus. Good luck!
Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.
Quizlet website for Anatomy. Get the mobile app on your phone, it's free but if you pay $10/year you will have access to all of their anatomy pictures that you can put on the slide. Its mobile flashcards, fantastic. Khan academy for physiology. My A+P 2 teacher this semester is awful, I am learning everything from Khan and hold a steady 86.5% (looking to make that an A before this semester ends), We just finished cardiac physiology and circulation, I was pretty proud of myself for getting an 84% on the physiology part because I taught it to myself. I just do a lot of repetitive studying for anatomy along with the mobile flash cards.
For physiology, like I said above, I use Khan academy (free!!!!) and other internet sources (like google but make sure its a educational site) to teach myself. It's four credit hours and I spend HOURS outside of class studying the physiology part.
I always score low to upper B's on the physiology exams but 95% of the time get A's on my anatomy practical so I manage to end up with an A overall in the class because my school combines the scores.
It depends on the teacher as well. My a+p one teacher was fantastic and I didn't have to study nearly as much outside of class, but he was also heavy on the anatomy and light on the physiology. My current a+p 2 teacher is the opposite.
You will find your groove, it just sounds like you may need to study more and perhaps approach it at a different perspective.
Also find which one is your strength, physiology or anatomy? Mine is anatomy. My memorization skills are excellent but in depth physiology has never come easy to me. I spend 75% of my time on physiology and 25% on anatomy. A + P 1 I finished with a 4.0 with that studying formula.
Anatomy & Physiology is rough! I spent hours upon hours studying for it, sometimes resulting in sleepless nights! I would recommend taking pictures of everything and making quizlets and just practicing for hours and not to ever attempt to cram because it never works. Another thing that helped me, was knowing how to pronounce the words. My professor always told us, you don't know the word unless you know how to pronounce it. If you type "How to pronounce blank" into youtube's search bar, most of the time it will pop up! Study hard and good luck :)
I did well in A and P 1 and 2, but it was a LOT of studying. I used Barron's Anatomy Flash Cards and just wrote everything over and over and over again. I met with a study group twice a week, and we would split the material up and teach one another. I studied at least an hour and a half a day-more before an exam. For bones, touch the part of your body where the bone is located (this is the humerus, this is the ulna) and know the numbers in groups of bones (like 8 carpals). Also, there are a ton of mnemonic devices for the carpals and other tough groups. Good luck!
You have my studying style. Flash cards and writing over and over. I passed A & P with an A but my hand hated me after lol
My A&P professor made us write small essays for all our answers. It really helped though because if you tried to explain yourself about the topic and couldn't quite get there, you'd still get some credit for the answer. I passed both A&P 1 and 2 with a B in each. However, the professor took his time to explain everything that he felt necessary for us to know in order to pass his exams.
styler-blood
7 Posts
When I took a&up the anatomy was really just about memorization. With bones when we had our bone eval I went through and wrote down all of the parts of each bones (fossa, foramen) whatever they were and I wrote them in a separate list for each bone. Then I made a mnemonic for each list. A sentence where each word started with the same letter of the part of the bone from my list in order. When you go to name all of he parts of the bone you start at the same place every time. You actually only remember about 3 landmarks on each bone. But you take your list and if you start in the same place and go around in the same order every time. Then you're just repeating the list. I tired to word that well I'm not sure if that made as much sense as it would have liked it to. Anyways anatomy is just memorization you doubt really have to put much thought into it so don't stress about that part.